The Upsurge of Astoria Greengrass
by TheNatureOfRyyan
Summary: "If you kick my chair ONE more time I will hex your stubby, underdeveloped leg off!" Astoria promised him, her voice rising. She went on, "Despite what you've all come to believe, this class is NOT called 'Pick on the Poverty-Stricken, Blood Traitor, Gryffindor named Weasley'. It's 'Advanced Potions: Year Five', and you will all do WELL to remember that!"


Challenge written for the HPFC forum under "**HP Potions Competition**" issued by Lil'MissChris. **Erumpent Potion – Write about someone who has kept all of their emotions inside, then suddenly snapped.** Enjoy! Read and Review!

**Disclaimer: This is purely for fun, and all I own is the plot.**

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"Right, I've got to step out for just a pinch. I'll be right back, I trust you all will behave?" Slughorn asked the class, to which he received a load of 'of course, professor's. It wasn't half a minute in before the room erupted, everyone taking complete advantage of the lack of supervision.

Lips barely parted, Astoria Greengrass sucked in a long, deep breath before she closed her crystal blue eyes and counted to five, exhaling slowly. She could feel the pinprick of pain behind her right eye- the telling sign of a migraine to come- and she resisted the urge to reach up and pinch the bridge of her nose. Greengrass's didn't show their weaknesses, no matter how small. It was important to keep your resolve, her father always told her, especially since she was a _woman_. Her father had very traditional views and values, and he expected his daughters to act accordingly. Even a small indiscretion earned a harsh punishment. Her annoyance only spiked when the student behind her, a boy from her own house, accidentally kicked the back of her chair, causing her to streak ink across her carefully written notes. She glared at the board in front of her, imagining burning a hole through it.

"Weasel, what's the matter? Can't stand up for yourself without your half-breed Boy Wonder?" someone taunted from across the room, and it was followed by, "Tell us, Weasley, do you have dirt floors and outdoor plumbing in your house, or does your pathetic blood traitor father actually rake in enough to have the simple luxuries in life?"

She and Ginny Weasley were the only ladies in this particular Advanced Potions class, and the Weasley girl was, unfortunately for her, the only Gryffindor. There were a few Ravenclaws thrown into the mix as well, but for the most part it was a sea of green and silver- a fact that her fellow housemates loved to shove in the sole red and gold clad girl's face.

Astoria was rather neutral on the subject: she could care less who was in her class, if she were there to socialize she would have taken Divination instead of Advanced bloody Potions. The other bratty gits in her house seemed to have other priorities, because they spent every available second terrorizing Weasley, and quite frankly it was getting old. Fast.

Astoria, however, wasn't planning on saying anything about it. As far as she was concerned Weasley deserved it. At least, that's what she was told to think. They were a bunch of blood traitors, proudly so, and everyone knew the chit could hold her own. Her temper was well known throughout the halls of Hogwarts, and Astoria thought the boys around her were particularly senseless for poking fun at the little lioness. She had already sent more than a few of them to the hospital wing at least half a dozen times this term alone- and it was less than a month in.

Her chair was jerked again, and this time Astoria couldn't stop the sigh from escaping. She bit down on her lip and righted her ink, scooting her desk up a few inches in hopes that she was going to be out of range of any stray legs. All she wanted to do was get her ruddy work done before class was over so she wouldn't have to do it this weekend. Just because everyone else deemed it acceptable to leave it until the morning of didn't mean she had the same pathetic work ethic. If all she was ever going to be was a pretty Pureblood trophy Wife to stand next to Draco until she was too old to see properly then she was at least going to be a well-educated one.

She absolutely _refused _to be Daphne.

And honestly, Draco had admitted on more than one occasion that he was thankful she wasn't ignorant and oblivious to all that was going on around her. She and her future husband got on great, and they had had plenty of great conversations over the years. The only conversation Daphne and her husband-to-be ever kept up for more than five minutes was the society gossip, which in itself was very unbecoming, according to their father. Astoria thanked Merlin every day that she had been paired up with someone with half a brain, who didn't mind that she also had half a brain (as long as she kept that between them for the most part). Malfoy may have been a tad spineless and judgmental and completely terrified of the wrath of his father- which, all the Pureblood children in their social circle were, it was a cruel world they lived in- but at least he treated her well.

"Yeah!" the boy sitting next to her jeered, completely turned around in his seat, "Weasel, tell us, is it true that you all share one bedroom? You're so underprivileged that you lot all sleep in the same bed?"

Astoria rolled her eyes at that one. Everyone knew that the Weasley's lived in the Burrow, which clearly had multiple floors. Obviously it had more than one ruddy room. She was almost inclined to point that out, but she kept her mouth shut still. She knew her place, and it wasn't sticking up for Ginny Weasley, the Boy Who Lived and Public-Enemy-Number-One-According-to-the-Death-Eaters's girlfriend. No, Astoria Greengrass's place was at the front of the class, with her mouth shut and her opinions kept firmly to herself. That's how it had been for the last five years, and that's how it was going to stay. She had worked hard to maintain the quite, agreeable housemate reputation and she wasn't about to give it up over Ginny bloody Weasl-

The third kick to the back of her chair pushed all thoughts of reservation out of Astoria's pretty blonde head, and she didn't even think before grabbing her closed Potion's book in her hands, turning around abruptly, and slamming it down on the boy's shin with all her might. He howled, and everyone turned to look at her in shock.

"If you kick my chair _one _more time I will hex your stubby, underdeveloped leg _off_!" Astoria promised him, her voice rising. She looked around the room, making sure that everyone was paying attention to her, "As for the rest of you, I swear to Merlin that I will do the same to your filthy, never ceasing to shut the hell up, tongues if you don't give up your extremely pointless and severely distracting hounding on Weasley. Despite what you've all come to believe, this class is not called 'Pick on the Poverty-Stricken, Blood Traitor, Gryffindor named Weasley'. It's 'Advanced Potions: Year Five', and you will all do well to remember that! It's pathetic that you lot have nothing better to do with your free time than pick on someone for something so mundane as their financial status, especially since that isn't something _she_ has any control over! You gits have no right to be flaunting your wealth in her face because it isn't yours_, it's your mum and dad's_. We're all children, and have nothing to our names besides what's in our school trunk. None of you are going to be any sort of asset to society, and when your parent's blood money runs out you're going to be even poorer than she is right now, because you won't have any skills besides how to gossip and repeat the same poorly-worded insults day after day! In fact, that Blood Traitor over there is probably going to be your boss one day, so I'd stop with the insults and start kissing arse right now if you ever want to be more than a sodding toilet cleaner."

Astoria went to turn back around and take her seat when someone from the back of the class taunted, "Or what, Greengrass? You've not spoken a word all year other than 'pass the potatoes' and now you'll have us all believe that you're going to act violent? You're nothing but a little girl who goes along with everything anyone else says- what do you know? I wager your bark is much more vicious than your bite."

She settled an icy stare on the kid, not speaking until the cocky smile slid off of his face and was replaced by a more unsettled look, "100 points from Slytherin. Say one more word- any of you- that is not related to Potions, and I will dock an obscene amount of points each time. I_ clearly_ do not care if it's from my own house. Continue on, and you'll see just how _violent _this little girl can get." A smirk she had learned from the best- Draco- took over her features, showing for the first time her Slytherin heritage, "What's that saying? _It's always the quiet ones_?" She let that remark sink in for a few seconds before lifting her shoulder, giving off an air of nonchalance, "But go ahead and test me, mate. I dare you to see just how vicious my bite really is." When no one said anything, she gave the room a rather delighted smile and sat back in her chair, going back to her note taking and taking in the silence.

A few minutes went by and Slughorn walked back in, a triumphant smile on his face when he took in his hardworking students, "Ah, see, I knew I could trust you!"

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Words:1,576

Hope you all enjoyed! As you can see, I love Astoria! My other one-shot is based around her also, though in a different setting.


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